Okafor's health crucial to Huskies' title hopes

News-Times, The (Danbury, CT), Brian Koonz THE NEWS-TIMES

Published
12:00 am EST, Friday, April 2, 2004

SAN ANTONIO - Despite UConn centerEmeka Okafor getting whacked on the arm in practice before the Huskies left for the Final Four, the sky was not falling Thursday in San Antonio."He practiced today and everything went fine," UConn spokesman Kyle Muncy said. "He went full-go and participated in all the drills." Okafor, a 6-foot-10 junior, could be the difference between UConn (31-6) beating Duke (31-5) on Saturday night in the national semifinals. While the two teams are evenly matched on the perimeter, Okafor will clearly be the best big man at the Alamodome."He's obviously, in my opinion, the most valuable player in basketball," UConn coach Jim Calhoun said. "There are some terrific players around who have won national player of the year awards, and rightfully so."But I think if you asked 325 coaches, I'd be curious to see who wouldn't want to get a kid who, until he got hurt, was averaging 20 points a game. He's only averaging 18 now, with 11 rebounds, four-plus blocked shots a game and probably 12 or 15 intimidations." Nelson wins Rupp Trophy Apparently, not everyone agrees with Calhoun's assessment of Okafor. Saint Joseph's point guard Jameer Nelson won his fifth national player of the year award Thursday when he collected the Adolph Rupp Trophy in San Antonio. He joins a list of Rupp Trophy winners that includes Larry Bird (1979), Michael Jordan (1984), Hartford's Marcus Camby (1996) and St. Antonio Spurs centerTim Duncan (1997). Nelson, a 5-11 senior, led the Hawks to a 30-2 season and the No. 1 seed in the East Rutherford Regional, after averaging 20 points, 5.4 assists, 4.8 rebounds and three steals. He is the second straight Atlantic 10 player to win the Rupp Trophy, following in the path of Xavier's David West last season. Nelson has also won the Naismith Award and been named player of the year by Basketball Times, The Sporting News and the United States Basketball Writers Association. And yet, after losing to Oklahoma State 64-62 in the Elite Eight last weekend, Nelson would trade places with Okafor in a minute."I want to smile every second, but it's really impossible for me to do because my team's not here," Nelson said. "Unfortunately, somebody has to lose and we understand that. Last week, we were on the losing end. Those things happen." The Hawks made it a clean sweep at the Marriott Riverwalk when Saint Joseph's coach Phil Martelli won the inaugural Rupp Cup as national coach of the year."They are going to crown a champion here on Monday night and these are great teams and great coaches," Martelli said. "But not a lot of those teams will be better than my team." Let the debate begin The moment the Huskies beat Alabama 87-71 last weekend to clinch a Final Four berth, the lines were immediately drawn in the sand. In fact, the question almost asked itself in living rooms all over Connecticut. Which is the best UConn men's basketball team: The 1999 national champions or this year's Final Four team?"The past is the past," Okafor said. "What happened years ago doesn't have any bearing on Saturday. We just need to play hard and win." Kevin Freeman, the starting power forward on UConn's national championship team, was less diplomatic."This team is incredibly talented. When I watch them and look at them, it's a talented team," Freeman said. "But I can't put them past us."Our team, I think we grew up together a lot longer. But this team is definitely a talented team. If you want to take those words and twist them, go ahead." Freeman said Detroit Pistons guard Richard Hamilton, the small forward on UConn's 1999 team, might book a charter jet to San Antonio on Saturday night if he can fit it into his schedule. The Pistons play Miami and ex-Husky guard Caron Butler at home tonight and host Indiana on Sunday. Remember when Back in 1988, Jennifer Persico was a quiet, freshman manager for the UConn men's basketball team. She watched with awe as the Huskies captured the NIT title and played in the NCAA tournament in two of the next three years. These days, Persico is Mrs. Jim Calhoun Jr., the wife of Calhoun's oldest son. The couple has three children: 5-year-old Emily, 3-year-old Katie and 10-month-old Sam. On Thursday, Jennifer Calhoun traded her towels and water bottles of long ago for a stroller and a trip to Starbucks with the kids."We're just absolutely thrilled. The team has worked very hard this year," she said. "The kids get so excited when their 'Papa' wins games. We've been living in London for the past few years, so we're happy to come back home for all this and be a part of it."